The Elder Scrolls: The Ebon Indenture - Chapter 2
by Dovakaaz
Summary: Our "Hero" Ly'ro travels to across Skyrim, from Solitude to Riften by horse carriage, and meets a mysterious woman as well.


My carriage ride was a dull and quiet one. Turns out the book that I brought with me was much shorter than I anticipated, and none of the three of us were much talkers, So I had just been sightseeing, which wasn't necessarily bad, since the amount of time I spend outside Solitude's walls were miniscule. On our way to our first stop, we passed through a quiet village called Rorikstead. It seemed like a decent settlement; children frolicking about, farmers doing their farming, and so on. I continued to watch the children in particular, happy and content. It began to irritate me, how joyful and carefree they all looked. I wondered if they knew what pain was.

I knew I was just getting angry over how poor and pitiful my childhood was, so I did what I could to take my mind off of it and turned my head away from the view of the village. As I turned my head, I take a moment to inspect the pale-skinned woman near me. She is twitching slightly, and is impatiently tapping her fingers against her satchel. I continued to keep my distance from her. We had made it to our first stop, at the Whiterun stables, before passing some landmarked watchtower on the way there. I heard it was where the Dragonborn killed his first dragon or something, but I didn't care about it at all. The carriage driver left the driver's seat to grab fresh wheels and horse feed for his next ride.

"Okay, I'm gonna be gone for at least 15 minutes, so make sure you get back in time if you leave the area."

The woman and I nodded silently.

"Okay, now off the carriage, wheels need fixin'."

We vacated the passenger seats and waited until repairs were made. There were many diversions and so on around the woman and I. I looked behind me to the lodge behind us; The Owls Perch Inn, I recall it being titled. Probably exists for all the tourists and travelers moving through Whiterun. I also knew there was a small market on the outskirts of Whiterun, near the entrance to the city gate, However I couldn't see it from where I was standing, and I wasn't going to move over there to look either. I didn't want to risk losing my ride to Riften, and I wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

I stayed put, and as I did, the I notice the woman's doing something very different now; She's staring directly at me. With a desperate looking expression, she gazes at me, as if she were expecting something. With that stare, I took the time to fully analyze her. I approached her, with my dagger on standby, and gave her a closer inspection. She was clearly a woman, black robed and pale, as I learned earlier today, but I noticed something new, as I inspected her in a non-inconspicuous manner. Her scent was slightly smelling of a foul mixture; An addictive mixture that, unfortunately, is apart of the stereotype of the khajiit culture.

With her scent smelling of said mixture, it was obvious what she was. She wasnt some deadly necromancer yearning for a new corpse to use as her plaything; She was just a skooma-addict. It was also obvious that she thought I had said product. My anger had risen incredibly quickly, due to my hatred towards skooma.

"You nord bitch!"

Some guards in the background started watching us.

"You've got some damned nerve thinking I haul such trash!"

My sudden shouting towards her scared her, and she fell to the ground.

She burst into tears, and looked up to me, in pitiful manner. "I'm sorry, I just really need it..."

I looked back at her, angered, yet sympathetic.

I stared at her on the ground, helpless and pathetic, pouring tears down her face for about 30 seconds, until a terrible memory was brought upon me. After so much as remembering it slighty, I grabbed her arm and raised her up from the ground.

As I lifted her, she looked at me with confusion.

"Follow me."

I had taken her for a walk to the outskirts market, Hoping I didnt take too much time. As we toured hastily, I scanned every store for an alchemy vendor.

"What are we doing? Are you turning me in? Can I be arrested for this?!" She said in panic.

"No you can't. Now shut your mouth! You're attracting attention."

Finding out that there weren't any Alchemy centers nearby, I grabbed her hand and pulled her with me to a khajiit caravan. I was sure they had what I desired- I knew they had all types of items, knowing the caravan that stops at the gate of solitude. I approached the khajiit merchant; His ears were twitching and seemingly uncomfortable. His exhibition of discomfort had me assuming it was from the cold winds of Skyrim and he was from the deserts of Elsweyr, a "real khajiit", as I used to call them as a cub.

Rushing, to the subject, I ask the merchant about his goods,"Hey, You have some potions in stock, right?"

The khajiit nods, and speaks in his somewhat clear accent. "Yes, we have that and all kinds of different wares, but a mere potion is this one's only desire, no?"

"That's right." I reach for my coinpurse. "How much for a healing potion? Cheapest one you've got."

The merchant nodded, and rummaged through his stock, retrieving a small flask filled with red, thick liquid. He thinks of a price to offer while inspecting it and reading its label. "Hmm... fourty gold will do for this item."

I nod and count my coins. I completed my transaction, and handed the addicted nord her healing remedy.

"Drink it."

As I handed it to her, she looked at me with a mixture of bafflement and sincere gratitude.

"You would do this... for a stranger?"

I ignored her sincerity. "I said, drink it!"

She had gasped slightly and quickly drank the fluid from the potion, gagging on it slightly.

I had seen the carriage had been fully repaired, so I walked back to it and returned to my seat. The no longer addicted nord did the same.

The carriage ride was on its way to Riften, and my step towards the guild grew even closer now. The carriage was much less silent than it was before, for obvious reasons.

With a few minutes of silence on the carriage, after passing by a landmark called the Valthiem Towers, the woman speaks to me, "Thank you so much for what you've done."

I nod slowly.

"But... why?"

I look at her with a small amount of irritation. "When you find a gold ingot while walking down a road, do you ask any questions?

"I guess that makes sense. I wish I could repay you however." She looks down on her lap.

Repayment wasn't on my mind, but when she brought it up, my interest had risen greatly. "What do you think you can do for me, Nord?"

"Well, you're an adventurer, aren't you?"

I laughed subtly. "I guess you could say that."

The carriage driver turns around and gives me a strange look.

"How... ominous of you." She looked at me, warily. "But I will pretend you didn't imply anything of a malicious nature."

"Answer my question, nord." I asked impatiently.

She returns to the subject. "Well, I'm sure you won't believe me, but I'm the daughter of a master alchemist, as well as scripturist from the arcane university in Cyrodiil."

I raised an eyebrow in interest and curiosity. "Go on."

She continued. "A few months ago, I came to Skyrim in attempts to learn of the exotic ingredients here, but..." She looked down on her lap. "My parents..." her eyes squinted."They disowned me."Tears began to run down from her eyes again."A courier sent me a note from my parents down in Cyrodiil..." Her hand balled into a fist. "The note said that they will no longer fund my stay in Skyrim and that I'm on my own from now on." "I was out of money, and I didn't know what to do at the time, so I wandered, crying about for days, but then a khajiit like you appeared and said that he had something that can help me feel better." She looked back at me. "You know the rest."

I continue to look at her, expectantly.

"I have been doing... horrible things... in efforts to obtain skooma for the past months..."

"I didn't ask for your life story, nord." Can you repay me, or can you not?"

She sighed. "Yes."

"Good." I lean back on the carriage, and silence resumes itself once again.

During the carriage ride, we rode past another small town, called Fleetford. It was just another peaceful, quiet village. Not many children there at all, so I didn't get angry over bad memories again, luckily. After that, we came by Shor's Stone, a village that seemed to be centered around an ebony ore mine called "Redbelly Mine". It was interesting to see miners work whilst I was lying back on the coach. After that, along with a few more minutes of silence and horse-powered travel, we finally reach Riften's stables, just before the dusk had fell. My Hyperactivity came back to me; I jumped out the carriage, ecstatically. The nord walked out of the carriage behind me. I looked back at her, remembering something.

"Oh, yeah. What's your name?"

She smiles. "Hildir."

I nodded. "Well then, Hildir, I'm more than sure you aren't going to do anything but follow me around like a lost dog from here on, so feel free to continue to do so."

Her smile faded quickly. "Okay."

"Know this, however." My facial expression turned serious, as I remember a quote my father used for me as a cub many times. "You do what I say. No questions, No exceptions."

She frowned slowly. "...Okay."

"Good, I've made myself clear. Let's get moving then, Hildir."

With those words, I approached the Riften gate and my real work with the thieves' guild would finally begin soon.


End file.
